Kim & Kanye Say I Do

I've realized that I haven't posted anything new in about a month. I think this is the longest stretch I've ever gone without blogging. Oh, how much I've missed it. I can't promise that I'll post weekly, but for now, let me start catching you up on my life and events that have happened since mid-June.

My cousin Brookie got married on Saturday, June 14th at a golf resort here in the valley of Phoenix. Brookie falls as the fourth oldest grand-daughter on our side of the family.

My friends & I got to the wedding about 30 minutes early, so it was nice to mingle with family, especially those who came from out of state. Of course, I snapped some shots with my siblings, stepmom and my cousin Nick and got my great uncle Artie flexing his muscles haha. Artie is my grandpa Henry's baby brother. 

My grandpa Henry passed away in March, so it's even more special for me to be able to see my grandpa's siblings for a special event as this wedding. I love that these types of celebrations bring people together, like I haven't really gotten to visit with my cousin Nick in a long time.

Brooke and her bridesmaids all looked gorgeous! My cousin had her hair curled, and down, with a lovely headband adorned on her head. Her groom, Randy, who I must say is such a down-to-earth, compassionate guy, wore olive green khakis slightly rolled up with suspenders as did his groomsmen. ( I loved that! and those guys all got dancin moves!) All the men, including my Uncle Albert (father of the bride), and Brookie's three brothers, all had crisp white button down shirts with a pretty mint little flower pinned to their shirt.

My aunt June (mother of the bride), walked down the aisle in beautiful gray/silver sparkly form fitting dress with a turqoise/mint beaded statement necklace. Besides everyone looking wonderful, the wedding ceremony itself was short & sweet. It took place outside, in the shade (thank God, cuz here in AZ it's hot as can be!), and actually wasn't that bad. I don't think I even sweated lol. The groom & bride poured two different colors of sand to symbolize their union and afterward, the pastor lead us all in prayer. It was beautiful. I have to tell you too that when the procession started, I started to tear up! :) Oh, and the simple, two or three piece band that played live music before the ceremony started was AMAZING! (I didn't get a pic of them though).

After the ceremony, the reception/dinner began. We had mexican food and the ballroom was decorated with hints of mint & silver/gray. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay too long, but I heard that the party went on til 1 in the morning (officially in the ballroom) but family & friends were up celebrating til early morning!

Now, THAT smile says it all.

 (her smile says it all too.)

I am so happy I got to witness their wedding and celebrate in the sweet love that her & her hubby have for each other.

Now, I say that Kanye and Kim got married which is totally funny, because I've referred to brookie as Kim Kardashian when describing her/talking about her with my friends and over a year later, right after the wedding, I discovered that my cousin Bridget (sister of bride) referred to Brookie as Kim and well, Randy is Kanye! hahaha. Seriously, my cousins (all sisters), Brookie, Bridget & Brie ARE LIKE Kim, Kourtney & Khloe Kardashian!

first dance!

MANY MANY cheerful wishes of love, health & happiness to YOU Brookie & Randy!! I am SO excited for you & your future together!

(uncle roy's shirt photo bombed!)

little brother graduates!

On May 21st, my youngest brother graduated from high school! and with honors in Spanish! I sometimes call him Slim Jim because he's tall and skinny. He's also a golfer. He was on the varsity team since he was a freshman AND he was the number play those four years of high school! Yeh, I just gotta brag! Proud big sister here! He is off to the community college for his basics and then he'll probably transfer to a university for golf management.

So then on Saturday May 31st, I traveled out the east valley (about an hour from my house) to go to Slim Jim's graduation party. Before I went to my dad's, me and my friend Bradley stopped by my mom's house. It was good to visit with her and my aunt and our dogs. Oh those babies are so cute!

When I first got into my mom's doorway, I felt one of them licking my toes. It was emme saying hello and giving a little love! She is our last Boston Terrier. We rescued her. The couple that had her moved out of state, and so we took her. We had four, but the older three have passed on, emme is the last of the original four. She is so gentle and calm. She's the "mama" to our two other dogs, both boys. They absolutely adore her and their bodies have to touch hers, like if they are all laying down on the floor or couch, so funny.

Around 6pm, we arrived at my dad's for the party. It was so nice to see some family and old friends of our family's as well as a couple of my good neighbors that I've known for about 16-19 years! One of them, Chris, is so sweet. My leg started flaring up and I still had over an hour before I could take my next round of meds. She went over to her house across the street and brought me her ice pack that I could put on my leg to help me! The ice did seem to help much more than when I use my heating pad. Her ice pack was cool because it was soft and flexible, unlike those blocks you put in your lunch bag! haha.

Also at the party, I got to see my step aunt Sharon who is hilarious! Her and her hubby D live in the Houston, Texas area and so I don't always get to see them very much, maybe a couple times a year.

My stepmom and sister made lots of yummy sub sandwiches, almost 100! plus pasta salad (my fave!), chips & dip, and fresh fruit cut up.

I got to meet a couple of Slim Jim's good friends. Since I don't see my younger siblings that much, it's neat to meet their friends who they spend alot of time with ya know, especially when they were in the high school setting.

Of course, there was time for selfies! We love selfies!

Overall, it was a great time and happy I got to see my family!

I initially was going to post this on Saturday (a few days ago) but blogger was acting up and my post was lost! Frankly, I was quite mad and was not in the mood to draft it again and I had no more time, so I am hoping blogger cooperates and posts today!

Christmas party-time!

Over the weekend, I was delighted to be able to attend my ward's Christmas party. It was a great opportunity for me to wear my first ever vintage-esque dress from ModCloth (No I was not compensated for my thoughts on my modcloth dress, but if Modcloth reads this post, I'd be happy to receive product for an honest review lol)! I chose this evergreen frock and it did not disappoint. I loved that the material was thicker, which was great because it was cold outside baby!

The Christmas party committee did an amazing job. The decorations were awesome. I especially liked the white Christmas lights draped on the ceiling, plus there were lighted Christmas trees. I am lame because I totally forgot my camera as I headed out the door. Our taxi driver was being a little impatient (he arrived early) and well, I got distracted and left my camera, that was in plain sight, on my table. sad face. Photos from Amanda's phone will have to suffice.

There was also a table for decorating gingerbread houses and a hot cocoa table complete with all kinds of add-ins. Oh and dinner was delicious! We had prime rib, baked potato, caesar salad, orange slices and cake. The caesar salad dressing was divine! I could eat that salad everyday.

After dinner, there were wonderful Christmas musical numbers and in between each performance, a member of the bishopric read the birth story of Jesus Christ.

It was the perfect night to really getting into spirit of Christmas.

week run-down

yeh yeh, I haven't posted since monday.

I just didn't make time. You know how I was talking about my anxiety and not sleeping? 

Well, last week, I delightfully did sleep better, but on monday night it went downhill and this whole week minus last night, was not fun. I would lie in my bed, wide awake for hours! Most of the time, no anxiety, thank God! But sprinkled throughout. it's just frustrating.

I had such a positive response to THAT post and my heart was overwhelmed with love. I want to thank those who left me comments and gave me encouragement and support! It means alot and who knew that strangers could be united over such things!?

I also want to say HELLO & welcome to all of my new followers! I am sure you've heard GFC is going away in July, but do not fret, you can still follow me by subscribing by email or on bloglovin---there's a little button on the right there :) yeh, right there.

I am energized and feeling good & pretty today.

I'll give you a run-down of how my week went, besides the usual checking and responding to emails & reading/commenting on blogs:

Tuesday
cardmaking

Wednesday
visit w/the grandparents
go to my nurse sandy's parents SURPRISE 60th wedding anniversary party!!

It was such a fun event and i was so happy to be able to be there to celebrate Jackie & Russ's anniversary. They are such a good example of making family & each other a priority. I hope that when I enter a marriage that it's for 60 years and forever. 

Russ told me, "The first 60 years was hard. The next 60 will be easier." lol.

Obviously, sense of humor is key!


Thursday
meeting w/case manager
hang out with one bestie Hayne (she's on spring break!)

Friday
Got my toes did
made important phone calls
put together 2 packages

annnddddd, one night this week, I read Woman's Day magazine given to me from nana. While reading, there was a pretty quote that made me smile and brought warm fuzzies, especially now that Spring is upon us!

let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom---marcel proust

What are you looking forward to? Are you ready for Spring? How was your week?

birthday bash weekend//friday

Life has been on-the-go since before Thanksgiving and hasn't slowed down til this very day. I frankly have been exhausted from everything these last few months!

Right after Christmas, I started prepping and planning my big 30th birthday bash set for Saturday, January 26th!

I actually ordered my birthday invites the week of December 14th because I had a promo code to use at Shutterfly that I had won in a giveaway, which saved me tons of money. Literally, on the 26-27th of December, I started addressing the invites. There were about a little over 100 people invited (most family) and 80 people showed up despite the cold and rainy day!

Soon after, I wrote out the Mexican food menu I wanted to have and planned to ask certain family members to make certain things that are my faves that they particularly make.

This was the biggest and best birthday I've had so far for many reasons, including:

1. Family from both my dad's side and mom's side gathered together for a joyous occasion! [typically, ever since I was young, neither side of the family mixed unless my brother or I was sick/in the hospital or high school graduations-just the way things were, not for any bad reason] 

2. my dad and aunt june made it possible for my brother Alaska and his gf to come to Arizona from Oregon for the weekend!! It was a TOTAL SURPRISE to me as well as to my grandpa henry and to my nana & grandpa manuel! Having my brother here to celebrate with us was the best gift eVeR!! We (my family) hadn't seen my brother in nearly two years!

Before I get any more deep in detail, I thought I'd break up my birthday party weekend. 

Scenes from Friday (January 25th). Alaska and his gf come to my house and SURPRISE me with their presence!!

I was in my pj's/no makeup/eating a piece of hungry howie's pizza. 

Around 12:30pm, heide walks to the family room from the kitchen saying, "i have a surprise for you" and right behind her is my brother!!

I screamed OMG! went to hug him. I cried in his embrace for a good three minutes! hahahahaha

We then took a walk to the grocery store and hung out at starbucks.

Funny thing too, my dad had called me the night before-Thursday- to see if I was going to be home the next day, which I was {alaska and his gf were right there listening to my and dad's convo--apparently i was on speaker phone and had NO CLUE!] My dad was a HUGE help in setting up the party and bringing tables and chairs and other stuff we needed. He just told me, "ok,I'm thinking I'll get there (my house) by 2:30 on saturday to help set up."

stay tuned for what happened on the big day!

high school senior no more

last saturday was my little sister's high school graduation party! what a special event!

 it took me all day to prepare. I usually have to do the following whenever im going to be away from the house more than four hours! we (me and james, my partner in rime) left around 3:30 the taxi picked us up. it took about 50 mins to get there. I woke up, got ready, ate breakfast and then came back in my room to charge my ventilator and battery that powers my vent. The battery alone with last about 5-6 hours from the time it's plugged in, so i knew i had to charge for at least 4 hours. I did my makeup while charging and then Sofia, one of my caregivers, did my hair. Around 3 p.m. i went potty(because i can't go at my dad's house, the bathroom's too tight and need 2 people to lift me) and changed into my dress. i stopped charging and started gathering all the things i needed to take with me that i WROTE A LIST for!!

Breathing machine/meds

Camera WITH battery (because i totally forgot the battery last summer when i went to a good friend's wedding!)

cards

gift bags

backpack with power box for the vent(just in case)

spare battery for vent 

portable ramp (to get into the house)

Then around 3:20 the taxi came and James started loading my stuff. And off we went! 

My family did such a good job of decorating the house and backyard for the party! I didn't take a pic of the yard though :( My stepmom made handmade lasagne & spinach rolls (ooh so yummy!) and we had salad & bread as sides, plus cake later.

Sister J made three memory boards with a bunch of pictures from when she was a baby to now. Talk about flashbacks and fun memories! She also made a cute cardboard box for her guests to drop cards in.

sister j & sam. went to school together since kindergarten & our neighbors!!

Alot of family came too including my stepmom's brother & sister-in-law from Texas and my stepmom's dad, my step-grandpa T who i hadnt seen in like 2 years! He LOVES downton abbey too!! oh! I enjoyed talking with alot of family and neighbors! I miss them so much!

grandpa t

bubba bro, grandpa H & nat

My sister also had a friend stop by who couldn't make it to her party w/all their friends later (after the family party). She was really sweet. As i was leaving, a bunch of my sister's friends were arriving and i quickly was introduced to at least 10 of her friends, boom boom boom! they seemed like they were gonna have alot of fun and later, my dad told me the last person to leave was around 1:30am! partayyy!

It was so nice to visit with everyone. the last hour went by so fast. i can't believe how grown up my little sister is and is now graduated and gonna start college! it's so awesome. We'll be celebrating my brother's grad in two years! Time flies by!